NightTalk withAubrey Masango

The Department of Water and Sanitation have released a statement saying it is 'concerned about the misinformation that has been peddled on social media about the supposed waste of water from the Theewaterskloof Dam in the Western Cape.'

The sluice gate referred to is not broken, neither is the water being wasted. It is also important to point out that the City of Cape Town is not the only user of water from Theewaterskloof Dam. Irrigators along the Riviersonderend River are entitled to an irrigation allocation from the dam. These releases are however restricted to the curtailed level of 60% of their allocation.

— Department of Water and Sanitation

Some of the water released is for abstraction by the Overberg Water Board acting as a sole source of bulk potable water services to the towns of Caledon within Theewaterskloof LM, settlements of Protem and Klipdale in the Cape Agulhas LM, and drinking & stock-water to farmers in the Ruensveld of the Overberg.

— Department of Water and Sanitation

The releases will cease once the irrigators have taken their full share of the curtailed allocation prior to end of April 2018, it adds.

The statement concludes that 'occasional releases may happen if water security for the Overberg Water Board is under severe pressure to supply its users.'